As a child, I was told that education is the passport to the future. The agenda of education was always on quality but somewhere it got distorted. Every parent wants their child to get the best education. And that is why they are ready to shell out lakhs of rupees as annual school fees.

But admission in schools is not that easy these days. That is why people try bribery, donations or act as a minority class for the quota. Remember Irrfan Khan going from his lavish lifestyle to a labour class in ‘Hindi medium’? If you are wondering who does this in real life, wait till I tell you this.

According to Indian Express, Gaurav Goel, a Delhi resident, faked his economic status to get his son admission in a prominent school under the provision reserved for Economically Weaker Section (EWS).

During the admission of his elder son in 2013, Gaurav apparently told that he worked at an MRI centre and earned ₹67,000 annually. His address was shown as a slum in Delhi.

Unlike the movie, Gaurav was arrested when he tried admitting his second child under the sibling quota. The school checked the files of the elder child and found something amiss. Their suspicion grew when Gaurav requested to shift their elder child to General category. Madhur Verma, a senior police officer from Delhi told,

Delhi Police found that Gaurav owns an MRI lab and a wholesale business of selling pulses and has visited 20 countries. A report has found that nearly 1,000 students got admissions in 200 schools in Delhi from 2013 to 2015 with fake economically weaker section (EWS) certificates to avail of quota for the category.

Gaurav though denied the allegations and said that the documents submitted by him were not fake. He was in EWS category five years ago.

However quizzical it may sound, nothing takes away from the fact that it’s unfortunate to see a parent do so. Even worse, the child is now expelled from the school without any fault of his. The whole thing is a very sad reflection of our society. Not only does it showcase greed and selfishness on our part, it also highlights how insecure we are about our image and status.